Follow-up to yesterday's post about prayers for cats, and then animals in general. Decided to do some quick research into whether or not there are animals in Heaven. If you do such a search you will find that not a single serious theology or religion site devotes anything to the subject. The only places you will find articles on the issue are at pet-lover sites. So not really objective sources, no.After perusing several articles, these beast-friendly believers use the following arguments to state their case:
* That there are no specific verses in the Bible stating emphatically that there are no animals in Heaven. Yes, but there are no verses emphatically stating there is no cable television in Heaven, and I'm certain I won't be watching ESPN in eternity.
* That they can't picture Heaven as a quiet place devoid of the beautiful sounds of nature one would find in a jungle or forest created by God. Yes, but I can't picture Heaven as a place where rubies and diamonds and other precious jewels line the streets paved with gold, and yet that is what Revelations describes. Our imagination has nothing to do with the actuality of Heaven.
* That animals are so important to them that they can't imagine paradise without their loved ones. Guess what, genius. There are plenty of believers with unsaved relatives who they want with them in Heaven, too. Wishing our beloved to be with us doesn't bring them a spot there.
* That heaven is reserved for sinners, and since animals don't sin because they don't have the capability of choosing between right and wrong, they have never sinned; ergo, they go to Heaven. Wrong. The Bible says Creation is broken because of the fall, not just man and woman. Secondly, all that animals do, everything their instinct instructs them to do is to act on self-desire. Their basic operating system is out of selfishness -- just like man. Sinless, they are not. Thirdly, psychotically insane criminals have been proven to have no sense of right and wrong. They in Heaven with your precious Cuddly Wuddly Sammy?
* Finally, Revelations makes mention of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Look, flaming steeds in Heaven! If there are horses, there are other animals, no? No. It doesn't mention that the horses live in Heaven -- just that they appeared. God can make anything appear. It doesn't signify permanent existence.
Sorry to burst your bubble, animal-lover. I want my Nintendo Wii in eternity with me, but wishing it won't make it so. Fido is left behind with the rest of the useless world.
2 comments:
Easy, there, big fella. God deliberately tells us very little about our eternal dwelling place, and our reward; just because the scripture doesn't clearly spell it out, it doesn't mean it won't be there. I'm convinced that God honors the love that people place on animals (at least, as long as it doesn't become idolatry or displace love for people).
What about the discussion of the New Earth in terms of prey and predator co-existing peacefully?
Isaiah 11:6-8, or 65:25. Wave them off as allegory, if you will. :)
I'm convinced that treating animals on the same level as people is idolatry. In Matthew 6, God makes it clear that we are worth much more to Him than animals. When folks love animals as much as people, it is a distortion of love in the same way lust is a distortion of love -- and sinful in the same way. Animals may be in Heaven, sure. But I place that probability in the same realm as Heaven may have cars.
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